Half Lived
by Wahla
Summary: Hayner was stuck. No goals, no plans, no friends. Just Roxas and /his/ dreams. So he spent all his time building him up and ignored everything else that existed, even the boy he had once been. Or maybe he was just too afraid to go back. / Seiner pairing
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts; it belongs to Squeenix.**

**A/N: **_I've decided this is an AU fic, I mean the only resemblance it has to the series plot is struggling and town names. That's it really. So AU here we come~ I've never written Hayner like this before, please tell if you think I'm still keeping him in character. It will help bunches!_

**_Oh and it's rated M for repetitive use of naughty words, I've rated it high just to be safe for possibilities in the future chapters. Better safe than sorry._**

* * *

Even in a crowd Roxas was easy to spot, Hayner told himself it was the messy blonde bob that gave him away- but it wasn't. It was the way he walked. Now, he didn't envy anything as feeble as posture or how 'cool' you looked. It was how he held his head high- not looking down his nose, but staring straight ahead as if anything could happen and it'd be okay. Hayner wasn't a petty man, he didn't want to steal away his friend's confidence, but he yearned for the same feeling.

This is why Hayner put up a front, his ego, his pride, his…whole outside world was forced through gritted teeth and he hated it. He hated every second he had to live this way, but he didn't know any other way. You were someone or no one in this town, and it was a small enough town so complete isolation wasn't an uncommon behavior.

He deeply believed it could be worse, he might be miserable now but the latter would surely drive him insane.

So he hung out with the Struggle crowd, besides Roxas who was perhaps his only true friend, and desperately immersed himself into their society. It didn't feel right- like shoving a puzzle piece into the wrong place and just leaving it there. He felt alone in crowds if Roxas wasn't there, he cried at night so he spent the night at his best friend's house until his parents suggested he just move in. Roxas didn't bat an eye at the desperation, yet shyly snuck a sympathetic look when realizing his friend's behavior. Roxas would never turn Hayner down, he couldn't- he didn't have the heart too. He knew Hayner acted tough and it would break the boy if he didn't handle things carefully.

And so it turned into a full time job being Hayner's friend, and Roxas had to be tired. Hayner could see it every morning after one of his 'breakdowns'- Roxas would be up distantly looking into a cold cup of coffee, tired shade painted under his eyes. He'd been up all night trying to soothe him, and either the stress or the worry would keep Roxas up. He truly thought Roxas deserved a better friend than himself, but he could never bring himself to let go. He felt selfish.

So he went to every struggle match Roxas had, he'd do anything for Roxas, trying to make up for what he did for him every day. It was cold this particular day, and Roxas was dressed warmly- like the smile on his face as soon as he saw Hayner. Hayner raised his hand and waved as he jogged to the edge of the fence separating the bleachers from the arena.

"You're going to do it this year." Hayner reassured, it sounded all wrong to be telling Roxas this, but it was said anyway.

"Haha, I can only hope so. He's a pretty tough guy."

Hayner rolled his eyes; truly he didn't see why people like Seifer Almasy were revered in the way they were. He was just flashy moves and cocky smile, nothing else. Roxas had actual talent…yet he lost every year to Seifer. This meant that he wouldn't be allowed on the struggle team. Every year you had to try out, even the members had to re-try. [Just to make sure they were up to the status quot, it was a _privilege_ to be on the team, not a right.]

"Whatever, you deserve it more than most of the people out there." Hayner grumbled, Roxas shook his head and smiled.

"Sure wish you were one of the judges then." Roxas teased, ducking a playfully thrown punch, reaching forward to 'fight' back- alas the whistle screeched over the masses and it was time for the matches to begin. Hayner wished Roxas luck and he was off.

He'd raced an old lady to get his seat at the front, but it was worth it. Roxas had started off strong and defeated one of the members from last year's team. Roxas left and Seifer stepped on to his own match, Hayner tried to tune his match out- yet he couldn't. He had to see what Roxas was against- if by chance he was fighting the boy this year. He cursed; Seifer had been the team captain last year and damn was he good.

Roxas and Seifer both went their second rounds without fighting each other, both won their matches. The third round rolled in and Hayner was trying out telepathy- seeing if he could convince the judges not to pair his friend up with Seifer, but just gave himself a headache instead.

His head snapped up when they started screening the match ups and he literally jumped out of his seat screaming when he saw the results. Seifer had the match against his own friend; Rai.

The old lady and those around him have him dirty looks; he alone was cheering.

Roxas covered his mouth from the field to suppress laughter that he knew his friend would hear somehow. Seifer's round ended with Seifer patting Rai on the back and apologizing; Rai understood how important it was to Seifer, so it was okay- the crowd ate this candy coated shit up. Not Hayner though, he figured they had planned it somehow; but he knew he was kidding himself.

Roxas was up against a kid named Riku, Hayner thought it had meant nothing at first- it was just some out of town kid trying to get on the team, but it was so much more. The guy was _good_, but not good enough. Roxas won his match by ten points.

A few more matches went underway and the last few team members had been chosen. One of the out of town kids won, a guy named Sora, he was the only one on the team who was a stranger.

After they officially announced the winners, handed out the honorary medals, uniforms and schedules- the crowd dispersed. Hayner raced down the steps of the bleachers and hopped the fence to make to Roxas faster. Nearly flew into the boy's arms as he reached him. Roxas made a sound that resembled a gutted pig and steadied himself before they both fell.

"I knew it! Oh, this is great Roxas! I'll come to every one of your games and be the freaking groupie if I have too-"

"Hayner. people. are. _looking."_ Roxas laughed wearily.

Hayner blinked, and whirled around to see the whole team watching them with varied expressions. He blushed vibrantly and pulled away from his friend, taking a moment to calm down.

"Sorry, I'm just excited for you." Hayner explained.

Roxas laughed and grabbed Hayner in a light headlock, trying to noogie him. "You big dork."

"Pst, hey, look can you stop flirting with your girlfriend and listen?" Seifer shouted at them. Hayner glared, but Roxas simply rolled his eyes and let Hayner go.

"We're going out to celebrate, sea-salt ice cream for everyone, my treat." Seifer said with a flashy smirk as jutted his thumb towards his chest. Most let out a cheer, the Sora boy just looked confused whether he should be happy about the flavor of the ice cream. It was a Twilight Town specialty, but it was foreign in most other cities.

Hayner's eyes turned downward and he murmured that'd he'd see Roxas later before turning around to leave. Roxas saw the 'signs' and protested a little too strongly.

"Don't be so dramatic 'wuss, you can come along with your boyfriend and I'll pay for you _this time_."

Roxas silently thanked Seifer; Hayner visibly perked up -aside from being called Roxas's girlfriend- but for show, rolled his eyes and grumbled his thanks. Silently he thanked Seifer for the invite.

* * *

Sora brought his friend along, probably so he wouldn't feel alone- but Hayner soon learned that wasn't it at all, Sora was a very outgoing boy- talking to the whole team even. It was Riku who needed some cheering up; he looked bummed that he didn't make the team with his friend. Roxas apologized for winning [of course he would], but admitted he had been trying forever to get on the team himself. Riku looked a bit better after Roxas said that and ended up talking to us with Sora for the remainder of the evening.

"Destiny Island? My uncle lives there, do you know Namine?" Roxas asked brightly, Sora jumped from his seat nearly and nodded enthusiastically.

"_Namine!_ Of course, she's Kairi's sister!" He exclaimed, and then commenced having an aneurism with Roxas about how it was destiny or fate that was involved in their meeting.

Riku turned to Hayner, a quiet look of contempt for his friend lingered on his face before he could erase it. "So, do you struggle?"

Hayner blinked, and shrugged, "Not really, only with Roxas. I don't have a knack for it." He said shyly.

The silverette smiled and said, "Wow, really? I thought everyone in this town was into struggling- ah, but I don't mean to offend you."

Smiling weakly Hayner nodded, "Ah, yeah, it's not for me- I'm into because of Roxas." He paused, that came out all wrong.

Riku smiled with an odd look in his teal eyes, "Oh, so are you two good friends?" It felt like more was being said behind it, the look in Riku's eyes asked if they were 'together'.

The camo-toting boy was close to giving him a dirty look, "Yeah, _just_ friends though." He added snidely.

Blinking and waving his hands out in front of him, "Oh, it's just earlier when Seifer mentioned it, and neither of you denied…"

Roxas had clicked back into the conversation suddenly, saving Hayner from the awkward reply. "That's because Seifer likes to push buttons, and we try not to encourage him by replying."

A sigh of relief fluttered from the curly blonde's lips, a grating migraine pressed into the back of his head- no wait a sec there was someone leaning on him—

"You lamers talkin' bout me?" Seifer asked, casually leaning on the top of Hayner's head, looking over him as if the younger boy wasn't even there.

Hayner hissed, and pushed the older boy off, "Ugh, get off of me!" Immediately fixing his gelled back curls out of habit.

Seifer smirked and this time looked solely down at Hayner, "Don't get your panties in a knot chicken shit. You can't resist me anyway." He said throwing in a wink for measure before turning on one heel and walking from the table to the ice cream stand.

He had to grit his teeth not to say anything stupid enough to get his ass beat. That prick was always embarrassing them, he had half a mind to go show him just what he thought of his teasing –

A hand grabbed his shoulder gently, yet firm. He was startled from his thoughts, he saw now that Roxas was attached to the hand, giving him a cautious look. Hayner remembered that he couldn't act outrageously towards Seifer any longer without risking his own friend's position on the team.

He took a slow breath, encouraging himself to simmer down, and focused on what they were celebrating. He was happy for Roxas, _very _happy for him. Naturally, he would go to all of his friend's games and perhaps even attend their practice as well. Though he couldn't help but feel that perhaps Roxas wouldn't want him around 24/7. Hayner decided it would be best if he took a bit to back off as to not suffocate his friend.

"Okay team, _and guests_," Seifer said pointedly looking at Hayner and Riku, "Here's the ice cream, go crazy."

"Thanks, Prick." Hayner snapped as he received his cold treat.

"No problem, _lamer_." Seifer replied, unmoved by Hayner's remark.

Roxas took this as a good time to distract his friend by 'accidentally' taking a chunk of Hayner's ice cream. His friend's attention was successfully captured. He complained and shoved his sea-salt treat into his mouth before Roxas could swipe another bite.

* * *

They were walking home, supposedly Riku and Sora had just bought an apartment in their complex- unfortunately Seifer lived the same way as well. Roxas kept himself occupied by talking to Sora about Struggling, however stole glances at Hayner from time to time to make sure he wasn't going to kill Seifer. Luckily Riku was talking to Hayner again. Seifer trailed behind them, adding little snippets into both conversations.

"From what I heard you played in high school?" Riku quirked, trying to bring up struggling again, it was making Hayner feel a little bit uncomfortable but he answered anyway.

"Yeah, a bit. Like I said I wasn't any good." Hayner said, wincing at the ice in his own voice. Roxas looked over, this time he wasn't being discreet. His conversation with Sora had halted all together.

Seifer huffed from the back of the pack, "How would you know? You haven't played in years."

Hayner looked back sharply, "I played in _high school_, on the non-varsity of all things, so I could be in a class with Roxas."

Roxas looked like he was about to say something, Seifer beat him to it. "I remember fighting you though." He said, as if it explained everything, Seifer hadn't realized he couldn't be vague around Hayner.

"So? You beat me, what about it?"

"Yeah…" The air hung around those words, Seifer wanted to say something else, but that's where his pride interfered, he wouldn't admit that last bit _'barely' _at the end of his sentence.

No one had cared about Struggle in high school; their generation had been what made Struggling famous in Twilight Town. Hayner had lost a few times and never tried again. Now it was too late to catch up, everyone was already light years ahead of him and he wasn't willing to embarrass himself in the process that would be required to reach their level.

Riku must've decided Hayner was unpleasant to talk to, because he picked up the pace to walk beside Sora, leaving Hayner trailing behind silently fuming, Seifer a little ahead of him.

"Stop moping." Seifer muttered, having some decency not to 'announce it to the world' by keeping his voice down.

"Fuck off." Hayner's remarked snidely.

Seifer glanced back, not with a glare- but god damn him, a look of sympathy. Hayner shot a defiant glare back at him and this time he looked away, for good, as he turned the corner to reach his own apartment complex.

* * *

"See you next practice Sora- and hopefully you too Riku!" Roxas smiled at his new friends as they went their own ways.

Sora nodded eagerly while Riku mentioned something about being in the stands merely observing. Hayner inwardly groaned- would he have to talk to Riku when he went to watch Roxas?

The door closed behind Roxas and himself as they made their way into their own apartment, the spiky haired boy sighed and said, "You don't like them much, do you?"

Hayner shrugged, "They're okay, Seifer just put me in a bad mood."

Roxas scrunched his nose up a bit, "You're going to have to get along with him and the others you know…"

"I'm a fairly decent actor."

Blonde eyebrows furrowed down to the blue eyes on the boy's face, "That's not what I meant Hayner. They're going to be around more often, I can't have you fighting with any of them."

He hissed a slow sigh, "I'll be…friendly."

"Gee, _Thanks_ _for the effort_."

* * *

**_"-Roxas you're leaving your left open! Stop leading with your right so much, switch things up!"_**

Hayner stared in awe at how quickly Roxas and the others were to fix what the coach and their captain, which was unfortunately Seifer for the umpteenth time, told them to. He was starting to see why everyone deserved their place on the team, and even though he didn't want to admit it- why Seifer deserved to be team captain. He knew how to lead, how to help others and help himself at the same time. It was ridiculous to Hayner that he could think a kind thought about people like Seifer, but he'd have to start getting used to it if he wanted to make Roxas happy. Unfortunately this also meant learning to tolerate Riku and his unending doting on Sora.

Really though, Hayner was getting freaked out and there really wasn't a discreet or nice way to run away from someone. So he sat there in near silence.

"Y'know, I think I can get used to someone like you."

"Huh?" Hayner replied intelligently.

"You don't talk much," The taller man said. _Just not with you, _Hayner thought. "And we're alike you and I, you're pretty close to your best friend too."

"Ah, I already told you before that Roxas and I aren't-" Hayner began awkwardly.

"Yeah I know, this time I didn't mean it like _that_. But if you keep bringing it up I might think—" Riku replied with a small smirk on his face, Hayner interrupted him before he could finish. He laughed at the boys reply and told him he was only joking.

Hayner sighed in relief, grateful to whatever benevolent force had helped him avoid that conversation again, "Okay, so what _do _you mean?" Damn, had he actually just asked that? That meant they would have to keep talking.

"Well, I was trying to figure out if you'd understand what I'm going through with Sora." Riku began, shooting a glare when Hayner gave him a weary look, "I think I'm worrying about Sora_ too much_. I mean I hadn't even wanted to join the Struggle team."

Hayner sat up a little straighter; perhaps he could have a conversation with the man without gagging— now he was far too interested to back out.

"Why would you do that?"

"I want to be there for Sora- well at least that's what I keep telling myself, I mean Sora makes friends just fine, _but _I want to protect him from the…wrong friends." Riku finished awkwardly, rubbing his hand across his mouth.

The blonde blinked slowly, taking in the rushed information before finally responding. "So you're trying to protect from bad people? **All of them?** Riku, no offense man, but that's kinda naive of you to think you can protect him from everythi-"

Riku hissed quietly, Hayner wasn't quite getting his message. "That's _not_ what I meant. Listen a second would you? I want to protect Sora…from people who aren't _just_ looking to be his friend."

And it clicked.

"You don't want someone getting into his pants?"

Riku turned violet- _no wait_, maybe it was magenta. "Well if you put it that way it sounds—"

Hayner waved his hands in front of him defensively, laughing wearily. "Calm down, I just have to hear things the bold way, or it won't quite click with me." Riku gave him a stale stare.

"You're practically calling yourself dense."

"I am calling myself dense. Or as my cousin Olette says, 'You're a boy after all, you can't help it.'" He said, mimicking her right down to the tone of her voice. Riku covered his face and started to shake. Hayner quirked an eyebrow, wait was he—

"Are you _laughing_?" The brown eyed boy asked, sounding a little offended.

"Yes, I am. See you're not that incompetent at conversation. You got a laugh out of me, usually Sora is the only one who can do muster that."

"I'm not quite sure if that's a compliment, from what I can tell Sora is a huge goof."

"Of course he is, see? Didn't take you long to figure that out. From what I've heard from your friends that you're like that as well."

"Ha, so Roxas is talking about me?" Hayner snorted softly, too interested in what'd he'd heard to be offended.

"Sort of, it's mostly been Seifer. He'll bring up a memorable scuffle or two between you two that he found, in his words not mine, 'hilarious'."

The blonde scoffed, "Ha! First off, I wouldn't call what Seifer and I have a friendship, and two, I've totally won some of those fights. So he can screw right off."

Riku arched an eyebrow, "Okay, okay. Whatever you say. Then tell your side of things, I'm interested now." He said egging Hayner on, despite knowing both sides of the stories would be biased depending on who it came from. One thing seemed to be consistent, they never seemed to back down and they always seemed to come back. Riku saw the glaring similarities in his captain and Hayner more and more. He couldn't help but wonder the potential the younger of the two could have if he was more confident in himself.

* * *

Roxas jogged over to where he was standing after practice, panting yet smiling all the same. Hayner waved a hand in front of his face joking about his friend needing a shower. He laughed and looked past his curly blonde friend, watching Riku and Sora talking in the distance.

"Saw you talking to Riku during practice."

"Hm."

"Not going to say anything about it?"

"Naw, it was just small talk."

Roxas left it at that, but Hayner didn't miss the disappointment on his friend's face, he had probably been hoping Hayner had made a new friend. Hayner couldn't help the rush of guilt, Roxas was always hoping for the best for him. What had he done? Shoved Riku away, perhaps he would try again- just with someone else.

"So, you and Sora are getting buddy buddy." Hayner teased lightly, Roxas smiled and said, "Yeah, Sora is the type of guy who befriends everyone."

"You think he'll befriend me?" Hayner asked with a small smirk, Roxas laughed and said, "If you let him, but otherwise you could be his greatest challenge."

Hayner pushed him, however laughed while doing so, "Okay, thanks _best friend_."

"Oh ho ho, you forget yourself sir!" Roxas began, however had to stop to allow the both of them to laugh before continuing, "Best friends are supposed to be those bold bastards who slap you with the cold truth!" Even though Roxas was joking, there was something painful in those eyes, something Hayner barely missed.

The curly blond merely hummed his amusement and threw his arm over Roxas's shoulders to avoid seeing the look in his friend's eyes.

"So, whad'ya think of your first day of practice?" Hayner asked and Roxas's eyes glittered and he then commenced telling him all about his experience.

* * *

He ended up taking Roxas to the ice cream shop to get him a sea salt treat -which his said friend was currently attacking it. Hayner was only _a little_ afraid.

"Why am I not surprised to find you two lamers here?" A voice intruded on their peace and [almost] quiet.

"Hello Seifer." Roxas greeted, but he was still crunching ice cream in his mouth so it came out sounding like 'fheo sighfa!'

Seifer gave him an amused look and turned to Hayner with a laugh and said, "You probably shouldn't give him ice cream after every practice, he'll get fat."

Hayner actually laughed and poked Roxas in the belly, "Yeah, eventually you'll be too slow to keep up with the others~"

Roxas let out a squeak of insult, they both chuckled. Seifer sat down to join them, motioning to the ice cream man for his usual.

"So, I saw you watching us today." Seifer was looking at Hayner expectantly.

"Oh yeah, well, it was mostly for Roxas. You guys are good." Hayner said, remembering what Roxas said about 'behaving'.

To his surprise, Seifer didn't make a joke about them dating, he nodded and said, "Well, it's good to have supporters, you can come and watch whenever- just don't get in our way."

Hayner perked up and actually beamed, "Thanks." He said simply, but it meant so much more.

Seifer looked temporarily stunned by the boys smile, coughing in surprise before nodding distantly.

"Y'know, Hayner's always wondered why you're captain every year, he told me he finally understands why." The spiky blonde said before his best friend could stop him.

Hayner choked on his own spit, while Seifer looked over surprised at the camo loving boy. "Really, chicken shit? Color me surprised." Seifer remarked snidely, sarcasm sneaking in at the end, but his words held no bite.

Roxas kicked Hayner under the table, and the boy resuscitated himself momentarily to make a comment, "A-uh, yeah! Er, you actually do have some skill at bringing people together- y'know, as a team, and junk like that…"

Seifer took the compliment, awkward or not, and smirked, "Yeah, well, thanks then." Hayner may not have noticed the odd way Seifer pulled down his beanie or held his hand close to cover his mouth in case the threat of a smile started to pull at his lips, but Roxas did.

The ice cream man brought Seifer's treat out to him and this was when the beanie wearing boy decided to take his leave. They said goodbye to him and it was just the two of them again.

"So, that went well." Roxas said slyly.

Hayner furrowed his eyebrows, "You didn't believe I could make regular conversation with Seifer? Huh, you don't have much faith in me, y'know being my best friend and all."

Roxas punched his friend's arm playfully and finished his ice cream, "Whatever, let's go. Sora wanted to come over today and check out our apartment. He said a friend of his is looking for a room."

Brown eyes blinked and then he remembered- the extra room down the hall that they used as a game room. "Shoot, I guess I should've used the consoles more often."

Roxas punched him in the shoulder, "Don't be an ass, we could use the extra rent money, we're always almost short."

"I'm willing to deal with almost—ow _shit, Roxas! _Stop hitting the same spot!"

They walked back to the apartment to clean out the unused consoles and to move the dusty TV. Hayner figured he really should've spent more time in here; he wasn't ready for anyone to invade his home, his sanctuary- the only place he could be himself. What was Roxas thinking?

* * *

**A/N:**

_Holy__ Kingdom__ hearts, I've found a place to end this bugger finally! So many times I was stopping and then writing again. I can not believe this is almost 12 pages long! It's the longest single chapter I've ever written! -throws confetti- I'm super excited about finally getting this show on the road! Hope you all enjoy it. _

_Just leave me a review and tell me what you think! It'll really help._ :]

_-Wahla_


	2. Chapter 2

**Standard Disclaimer **

**A/N: **_So things have changed since the last chapter- I now have a Beta, Blue-sama, so hopefully that'll keep my writing a little cleaner. I'm sorry to those of you who've been waiting for this to update- I had a few kinks to work out before I could write more…but now here it is! I hope it is worth the wait._

_Thank you to everyone who left a review or fav'd! I really appreciate it.  
_

* * *

"_Holy crap!_ Why do you guys have so much stuff in here?" Sora complained as they finished clearing out an area of the room. He fell back onto his butt as he wiped a tired arm across his forehead, smudging a streak of dust across the moist area. Riku silently sputtered a small laugh, seeing the gray mark, but did nothing to help.

"Well, we got lazy and just shoved all the entertainment stuff in here." Roxas shrugged, a sheepish grin in place, with Hayner close behind him- mimicking the expression. It was becoming hard to believe that they weren't the messy teenage boys they'd been before.

"You guys are just weird then, how can you not have a TV in the living room? It just looks wrong having all that open space-" Sora fumed, beginning what appeared to be a rant about…_furnishing_. Fortunately, Riku was a good enough friend to save him from the embarrassment and volunteered the both of them to move the TV into the living room.

"Go for it, Sora's the expert here." Roxas teased before whisking away to gather the dusty video game boxes in hopes to avoid the boy's retaliation. Sora huffed indignantly before he turned to help Riku lug the television to the other room. Hayner watched them as the left, _'Better now than never.'_ He thought before shuffling over to his best friend, thumping down beside him.

"Roxas, why are we doing this?" He blurted, his heart pacing unevenly –his question out in the open, he sorta hoped it wouldn't start another fight.

"Why are we cleaning out the room or why are we letting someone move in?" Silence greeted him, Roxas sighed- already knowing the man's answer. "Because it'll be good for us."

"You're not thinking about us. You're not thinking about _me_ at all!" Hayner curtly responded, wincing at the selfish bite to his words- but it was too late to take them back.

Roxas looked unsurprised; he looked weary as he picked his words with practiced routine. "No, I am- I have been ever since Sora mentioned it."

Hayner inhaled deeply, anger bubbling in his stomach, Roxas had thought about it- but he hadn't mentioned it! He hadn't even asked for his opinion until it was too late. "Since when do you decide what's best for me?"

Roxas looked at him sharply, "I'm not deciding for you, I'm trying to open you up to the idea."

Hayner jumped up before he was able to calm himself. "_Open me up to it?_ We're already clearing out the damn room!" His hissed as loud as he dared, trying to avoid being over heard by the boys in the next room.

"Hayner, you know what I mean. I want you to give this a month at least, and if you truly just can't handle it-then we'll tell this poor bastard to find another place, okay?"

Hayner took another deep breath, "Okay- _okay_, just help me understand how this could possibly be good for me?"

Roxas hesitated for a moment, his lips pressed firmly- trying to find the right words. Hayner however figured he was just stalling; he was fuming at the sound of silence.

"Someone in your space might open you up a bit, since you're comfortable at home _maybe_ it'll help you feel more at ease with being yourself around other people." Roxas finally voiced- deciding that there was no gentler way to put it.

Hayner was embarrassed and touchy when talking about his character flaw, but Roxas was trying to work things out and what did he do? - complain! He felt the need to at least try and comply with the shorter boy's wishes.

He cast a weary look at his spiky haired friend and sighed, the look Roxas was giving him wouldn't allow him to say no anyway. "I'll try…" He mumbled lowly, with little to none confidence, but it still brought the eternal glow back to his friend's face and that was enough confidence for the both of them.

_"Uh, hey guys, was the coffee table expensive?"_ Sora cried nervously from the living room. The housemates shared a collective sigh; their conversation was done- right now they had to go make sure that their apartment would survive their brunette neighbor.

* * *

The room was now bare; they even had a box of video games going home with Sora and Riku. Sora suggested it would give Riku something to do while he was at practice, but Riku protested that he would never miss one of Sora's struggle practices. To say the least, Riku left their apartment with a blush bright enough to light a room. Hayner idly wondered how dense the brunette must've been to not have noticed.

"Those two are a piece of work…" Roxas laughed softly, but the sound was tense -it felt wrong to hear it. Hayner knew the boy feared there would be a stronger retaliation once their neighbors left, _and honestly he had thought about it_- however he decided against it. He had made a promise to Roxas and it was the least he could do for someone who had helped him time and time before.

"You want me to go pick up some pizza?" Hayner quirked, trying to break the tension _and silence_, Roxas whipped around with a look of relief.

"Yes, but don't forget the supreme this time."

"Well if you're gonna be demanding about it then I think I might just forget~" Hayner remarked with a laugh before he stuck his tongue out.

Roxas rolled his eyes and threw Hayner's wallet to him; with a laugh the boy caught it and shut the door behind him. Roxas slumped into the armchair beside him, had he dodged the bullet or temporarily avoided it? He really didn't know...

* * *

"Next!"

Hayner moved forward robotically, why the hell was the pizza line so long? - It was nine o' clock at night on a Wednesday! What in the world was so important about it? It was then he caught the sign, buy one large get one medium half off. It wasn't that great of a deal, but supposedly half of Twilight town decided they weren't about to miss out on it. Minutes passed and still no movement from the front of the line, he threw up his arms and turned to leave. He cracked heads with a person coming through the door. "_Aw, shit_– Sorry!"

"Dammit lamer, could you be a bit more _graceful_ when lumbering into people?" Hayner looked up in disdain, it was Seifer…covered in cheese and pepperoni. Shit, had he done that when he ran into him? - His gaze dropped to the floor where the rest of the pizza and its box laid, he winced.

"I said sorry." Hayner said defensively, he didn't have the patience to duke it out with the bully today; unfortunately Seifer didn't seem to agree.

"Yeah, I heard your sorry ass attempt; you're staying here and learning a proper apology 'wuss- you owe me a pizza." Seifer said with a devious wink. The curly haired blonde wanted to kick himself in the ass, why'd he have to suck bad luck today?

"Seifer, I don't have time for your egotistical ass today- can't I just give you the money and-" But as fierce as it may have sounded in his head, it came out as a mere squeak. Seifer chuckled softly cutting in, "_Shit happens._ You're sticking with me for now."

Hayner turned his glare from Seifer to the front of line; they were in the very back of the line. Wait- why'd Seifer have a pizza when he came in? It didn't make any sense.

"Why'd ya have to come inside anyway? You already had a pizza- we could've avoided this whole thing…" Hayner asked- he might as well know why they were standing in the long line.

"Rai called me last minute and asked me to pick up a supreme as well- I would've told him no way, but he _politely_ reminded me that I owed him." Seifer began simply, no quip or sarcastic remark before or after. Hayner even waited for one, but when it was evident that the scarred man wouldn't be continuing- he started laughing. Seifer shot him a look.

"What the fuck is so funny, lamer?"

"Y-you got outwitted by _Rai?_" Hayner sputtered, trying to quell his laughter to avoid getting a black eye- but it was impossible with such an image in his head.

Seifer snorted and looked away, "Not _outwitted_, I just didn't see the use in arguing over it."

"Whatever, smells like bull to me." Hayner smirked, his tone was playful- but he meant what he said.

Seifer rolled his eyes, not taking the bait. "Whatever- since you're so interested in why I'm here- then why don't you share with the class? Why'd ya walk out of here empty handed?"

Hayner thrust his arm towards the _crowd_ in front of him, "You kidding me? You wouldn't be here if Rai didn't insist to have his pizza- this line is ridiculous, is our town so small that a pizza deal is considered an event?"

Seifer whooshed out a breath of air- no, wait- he was laughing. Hayner stared at him oddly, was he laughing at his joke? -it was weird but he couldn't keep from smiling at Seifer's reaction.

"Okay, okay- whatever lamer, now you can just order your food with mine." Seifer suggested with a lazy wave of his hand, "You getting a pizza for movie night with your boyfriend or something?"

Hayner grumbled under his breath, "Roxas isn't my boyfriend- or do _you_ just _want_ him to be?" He insulted back, muttering 'freak' lowly. Seifer crossed his arms and smirked.

"_Jeez_, you're too easy to irritate sometimes." The older man laughed, amused by the response he got, if it wasn't so damn fun to push the boy's buttons he probably wouldn't bother him at all. It had become more of a habit now a day.

"Get a life or something; doesn't it get boring just to bully me all the time?" Hayner inquired, feeling less burned by Seifer's words than usual- had just spending actual time with the man improved their 'relationship'- _if you could even call it that._

"_Tch_, poking fun at you never gets dull." Seifer replied, glancing at Hayner before looking forward at a Struggling poster on the pizza parlor's wall. "But I won't give you too much credit- it's not near as fun as Struggling."

Brown eyes burned holes into the poster, "Its always about Struggling, when will people stop talking about it?" Seifer's gaze slid back to him.

"'Cuz it's the only thing that keeps Twilight Town interesting, don't think for a second the city will let it die." There were no bite in his words though, it left Hayner slightly shocked, Struggling was Seifer's life- he knew the man would grow up to be some great Struggling star and that fact alone made Hayner grit his teeth in jealousy.

"You're just saying that 'cuz you're hard up for it- even if you are right about the whole thing." The younger man sighed, he wouldn't even try to deny the facts- it was morbidly obvious.

Seifer's eyebrows rose in interest, "Ha, you're actually admitting I'm right? Now I'm worried." He teased with a toothy grin, about to continue his taunt before he realized they were at the front of the line. The older boy turned his attention to the menu and then at Hayner, "So- what're you getting?"

The darker blonde hummed lightly before answering, "Roxas wants a supreme and I don't think I'll need a whole pizza for myself- so that's it."

Seifer's mouth twisted into a thoughtful smirk before he said, "Hm, supreme? Y'know what wuss, I'll actually pay for this. I can just order a large for all of us." Hayner looked at him bewildered and angry, he was about to demand why Seifer had made him wait in line if he wasn't going to let him pay, but Seifer wasn't finished talking. "Hope you don't mind if I crash your _date_ tonight, I think I'll talk some business with my _teammate_, Roxas." His grin spreading at the look on Hayner's face while he freaked out- _Seifer was coming into their home?!_ "Rai will have to meet me there- he did make me go back for this pizza and all…"

"You can't be serious…" Hayner moaned but was ignored as Seifer ordered _and paid for_ a large supreme pizza.

* * *

"Honey I'm home." Seifer cried out as he lumbered through the door like he owned the place, trying his best (and high pitched) attempt at Hayner's voice. The mocked man reached over and punched him in the arm but only received a chuckle for his efforts.

Roxas slowly walked into the kitchen with a weary look before it broke into a smile. "Oh, hey Seifer, why are you here?" His eyes flickering back to Hayner as if he were asking his friend the question. Seifer must've caught the look that passed between them because he too glanced over at Hayner- probably half expecting him to respond as well.

"Hayner invited me over; _he just can't get enough of me._" Seifer said throwing an unwanted arm over Hayner's shoulders, bringing them uncomfortably close. The older man grinning wildly as the younger flailed as if burned by acid.

Hayner finally stopped fidgeting to answer, "Oh, as if!" He was beginning to flush from Seifer's behavior; looking away from the proximity of his ex-rival. The bully smirked at the man's awkwardness and proceeded to freak him out by blowing on his neck before letting him go. Hayner jumped and slapped a hand to his neck- frantically rubbing, probably hoping it would get rid of the 'Seifer germs.'

Seifer suddenly lifted the pizza up, holding it as if it were some pizza god before setting it down on the table. The other two boys stared at it with watering mouths as Seifer helped himself (He had called first dibs since he had paid after all.) "Enjoy your 'za ladies, it was on me." He said shifting a glance at Hayner, giving him a 'you owe me'. Hayner instantly dreaded his life, _er_ -letting Seifer pay.

The meal was silent at first as each boy stuffed at least a whole piece in their mouths, but Seifer decided to break the 'peaceful' silence by striking up conversation with Roxas. Hayner slumped in his seat, taking another piece and shoving it in his mouth to avoid answering if spoken too. Roxas was happy to talk to Seifer about struggling and the team, but he kept sneaking glances at Hayner to make sure he wasn't having an aneurysm.

The curly blonde rose from his seat after eating a healthy amount of pizza, hoping that it would keep Roxas from worrying when he rushed from the table- but old lady luck wasn't on his side today. Rai walked through the door (Hayner wondered vaguely why he hadn't locked it.) bringing his outside voice with him.

"Oh, hey Roxas- Seif didn't tell me you lived here too, y'know?" Rai boomed with mild surprise, his eyes flickering from Roxas to Hayner, "I thought when he said he was goin' to lamer's house that he meant…well y'know?"

Hayner blinked wildly at these words and thought to himself, _'Why would Seifer have come to talk to me? What, does he not call Roxas 'lamer' anymore? Perhaps not, they were buddies now that Roxas was on the team.' _He sneered in silent fury before turning around, he really hoped that Seifer and Roxas wouldn't become friends- he really didn't need that guy hanging around more often than usual.

"What's got your panties in a knot, lamer?" Seifer remarked, bemused by Hayner's silent behavior.

"Take a guess, jerk!" Hayner grunted back, losing a bit of control on his temper, Roxas sighed from his seat- about to interject but Seifer opened his mouth again.

"That's no way to talk to someone who just bought you pizza." Seifer breathed out, a frown on his face.

"Oh _please!_ Spare me, you were about to make me pay for your meal and mine!"

Roxas shot his friend a look, "Hayner, it's not that big of a deal.."

Hayner spun on him, words flying out of his mouth before he could think about it, "Oh, so now you're _defending him_? Since when were you and Seifer friends?"

Roxas stood up sharply, "Hayner, go for a walk. You need to cool down." Hayner looked up at him shocked, Roxas never talked back to him, he was always calm and understanding.

"Whatever, have fun with your kissing up to your _Captain._" The angry teen seethed before rushing off, slamming the door behind him. He didn't want to hear what the other boys had to say about his behavior- hell he didn't give a fuck _what they said!_

How could Roxas defend that jerk? He had always bullied the two of him as long as he could remember! Now he was acting as if none of that stuff ever happened, it had to be because Seifer was the team's Captain, Hayner thought. He really was starting to regret Roxas ever making the team.

The man was so blinded by his anger that he bumped right into Sora. The taller boy looked down at him with concern. "You okay? Me n' Riku heard the screaming…we were just worried."

Hayner looked up at Sora, the worried look on his face draining some of Hayner's anger away. "Sora, I know you don't know Seifer all that well, and I know he's your Captain- but he's just….such a jerk! I can't stand seeing Roxas being all friendly with him!"

Sora blinked, understanding but not seeing the whole picture, he patted Hayner on the shoulder and said, "No, I understand you don't like him- but Roxas is your friend, man, you can't treat him like that."

Hayner looked away, unable to look at Sora, the boy was still looking at him with such a convincing look that he almost wanted to turn around and go apologize to Roxas right there. Unfortunately though- Hayner was stubborn.

"_Okay._ I'll apologize, it's just- I can't go in there while Seifer's still there. Roxas probably won't let me back in so soon anyway, I'm supposed to be 'cooling down."  
Sora smiled softly and nodded, his worry fluttering away to be replaced by understanding. "I know you don't know us that well, but do you want to come over and 'cool down' with me and Riku? We were supposed to be having a 'friend date', but I don't think Riku will mind if we have a lonely guest over."

Hayner began to stutter some excuse to escape and go mope on his own, but Sora didn't seem to really care if Hayner answered him- he was already dragging the blonde down the hall to the apartment. He finally sighed and gave up, letting the helpful man kidnap him.

"Oh, Hayner, hey." Riku's surprised look greeted him, but he slapped on a friendly face before Sora could see his disappointed look. Hayner frowned; maybe Riku had wanted to be alone with Sora? Hayner felt a mutual connection between him and silver haired man; he too had wanted to hang out with just his best friend. He felt bad for ruining it for Riku as well- _great_, was he just like Seifer now? An unwanted intruder?

Sora plopped them down on the couch next to Riku before Hayner could begin to protest. Hayner glanced at the screen, zombies flashing across the screen as Riku's character shot them- his interest peeked, he could use a little mindless violence and gore to blow off some steam. Riku, as if reading his mind, handed him a remote so he could join in with them.

* * *

Thirty minutes of zombie genocide later, Hayner heard the door next door close. He moved to the window to peek through the blinds, Seifer and Rai were leaving- he let go of the blinds as he realized they'd have to come by this apartment to leave. Luckily Rai was a loud man and his voice eventually trailed away down the hall and eventually disappeared. The sounds of the zombie falling victim to Riku or Sora and the grunts of Riku, who was probably being attacked by said zombies, were the only sounds he could hear.

"Is he gone?" Sora asked, a smile on his face- hoping that it would ease the Hayner's nerves. Said blonde boy looked away from Sora and sighed, he was still nervous about apologizing to Roxas- but the support did help a little.

Just a little.

"Yeah." He stood, rising from the windowsill, he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and said, "Hey, thanks for this." And turned to leave, shutting the door behind him- pretending that he didn't see Riku's arm slide around Sora's shoulders as he left.

He turned the door handle, not surprised that it wasn't locked- Roxas may have told him to go take a walk, but that didn't mean he wasn't welcome back into the house. That thought alone eased some of Hayner's worries. He released a deep breath, this didn't have to be so hard- this was Roxas, his best friend! Even if he had been mad with him earlier, he wasn't unforgiving.

"Rox." He croaked, his voice not coming out as steady as he wanted it too, but he wouldn't let it ruin everything. Roxas was sitting on the couch in front of the TV that Sora and Riku had moved earlier, he turned around looking expectant but calm. "Hey, I'm sorry." Hayner let out a whoosh of air, that wasn't so hard.

Roxas nodded and said, "I forgive you, of course. But that was pretty rude of you, you understand that right?" Hayner twisted his lips before nodding with a slight shrug of his shoulders. "You should really be apologizing to Seifer, but I know you too well. It's hard for you to apologize to me sometimes." Roxas said without any sugarcoating, maybe he was getting tired of tiptoeing carefully around conversations with Hayner.

Hayner winced and bit his lip so that he wouldn't say anything dumb. No, he wouldn't apologize to Seifer, not even if the man twisted his arm behind his back and ordered him too. "Thanks. Of course you know me; you're my best friend, duh." The darker blonde said with a crooked smile before plopping down onto the couch next to him. Roxas grinned wildly and nodded in agreement, he was glad that Hayner to have his friend here with him.

"So, did you have fun with Sora and Riku?" Roxas asked with a smirk. Hayner looked at him shocked, his mouth dropping slightly.

"How'd you-" Hayner began, but his friend interrupted him.

"Please, you didn't think I would watch you leave? I always do, I gotta make sure you don't do anything stupid like, 'run out the door too fast and fall off the railing'." Roxas smirked, poking a tease at his friend. Hayner rolled his eyes before protesting.

"I'm not that reckless! And that happened _one time_ and I was _skating_ out the door! But I learned my lesson when I broke my arm, didn't I?" Hayner said, looking away with a playful pout before Roxas socked him in the arm and told him to go to bed.

* * *

Hayner sighed as his sleep was interrupted by an annoying ringing, he reached over and slammed his alarm clock- but when the ringing continued, he realized -despite his grogginess -that it was the doorbell. He rose from bed, checking to see if he was wearing clothing- pajama bottoms and shirt –_check_, and headed to the door. He swung the door open, his eyes adjusting to the bright sunlight that his bedroom had shielding him from, before asking groggily. "Can I help you?" To the man in front of him.

"Hiya, Sora told you about me, I'm your new roommate." The wild redhead said with a catty grin, Hayner took a second to take in the wild red spikes the guy had going on before he turned around and called for Roxas. The problem had arrived sooner than he thought…

Roxas rounded the corner and moved in front of Hayner, knowing he didn't like to handle strangers, especially not one that would be moving in, Axel stuck his hand out to them- Roxas shook it and said, "I'm Roxas."

"Hey, Roxas- Sora told me a lot about you, you're like his new Struggle idol or something." Axel said with a laugh and a roll of his eyes while Roxas on the other hand was basking in the light of Sora's compliment. "I'm Axel by the way."

Hayner helped Roxas bring in Axel's bags while the redhead chatted Roxas up; he felt dread leak into his heart- he was going to have a harder time accepting this than he thought.

* * *

**Okay, to answer a few questions before you ask them….**

**Yes, Hayner got _pretty_ upset about Roxas defending Seifer- but I think I went about that reasonably considering Hayner's character. Hayner obviously has an irrational temper and a record of doing and saying stupid things when he's angry- in the game it even shows this.**

**Of course he has considerably grown up in this fic- but I don't imagine he'd lose his temper all together, of course it would flare up when it comes to things he's sensitive about. *cough*Seifer*cough* (and in this fic- 'opening up to others.')**

**Okay, sorry that sounded stuffy! I just had a feeling people would say something about it and I wanted to tell you guys I do think this stuff out.**

**Heh, hard to believe, right? xD  
**

Sorry that there wasn't any Seiner fluff in this chapter, honestly I'm working on it. It just wouldn't fit into this chapter. I promise it'll come soon, reasonably, but soon. :)

Trust me, I'm just as big of a Seiner fan as the rest of you~

But hey, I gave you some Riku/Sora?


	3. Chapter 3

**I'll be surprised if half, if not all of you, don't even remember what this fic is about anymore due the lack of update. I've been incredibly horrible and I apologize. I just got…really stuck with this story and got very frustrated. I gave up on for a bit, but I knew I wouldn't be able to stay away.**

**I'm sorry you've had to wait so long.**

* * *

"So, hey." The redhead began awkwardly, but to Hayner there wasn't a thing that wasn't awkward about Axel. But to be fair, Hayner wasn't giving the new roommate much of a chance anyway. "You've barely said five words to me and I've been here for nearly two weeks!"

The curly haired boy squirmed in his seat, trying to find some way to look very preoccupied with some invisible speck on the wall a quarter inch to the right behind Axel.

"Do you not like me or something?" Axel finally finished, looking relieved to have said it.

"I don't even know you yet." Hayner said as if it were as simple as that. The older man rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, but that's the thing. You seem to find a way to completely avoid me and we live in the same apartment. You're talented or something, that's for sure." The man scratched his cheek, not seeming anywhere near as horrified about being confrontational as Hayner was.

When Hayner didn't respond the older man tried again, this time a little nicer in hopes of getting on his good side.

"Look, Roxas and Sora say you're a cool guy. And I want to believe them, but acting like this makes it hard to understand you."

_Exactly_, Hayner thought to himself, but he wasn't much for confrontation, especially with a stranger he had to see every day.

"Whatever, I'm sorry. I'll try harder." Hayner said sounding very noncommittal about the whole ordeal.

Axel frowned and opened his mouth to object that he wasn't quite through talking, but the slam of the front door became Hayner's saving grace. He took the opportunity to leap up and retreat to his room. Frustrated green eyes followed him, but the curly haired boy only allowed him the glimpse of his back as he disappeared down the hall.

"Hey." Roxas said wiping an arm across his own glistening face.

"Tough workout today?" Axel asked, trying to break the tension that had settled during his talk with Hayner.

"You say that like you think Seifer goes easy on us. Let me just get rid of that false hope now. Seifer is all out or nothing. We train like we play, to the fullest. In other words, I'm ready to pass out." The blonde groaned as he flopped himself onto the floor.

"You know we have a perfectly nice couch two feet away, I hear people use them to sit on now a day. Crazy kids." Axel teased and the younger man rolled his eyes.

"Hey, I'm nasty. I'm not going to get the couch nasty." Roxas grumbled, he was sort of OCD about those sort of things. It was a wonder the game room had stayed as messy as it had for such a long time.

"Whatever, I've had nothing to do all day, so hurry up and get fresh. Let's go hang with Sora and Riku." Axel suggested eagerly.

"Hayner has been home all day too…" Roxas offered, but he wasn't expecting much to be honest.

"Oh, really? Could've fooled me. I thought we just had a resident ghost that looks like him." Axel mumbled sarcastically.

"I'm guessing there wasn't any progress today. I'm not surprised, just give a little longer. Trust me." Roxas said hopefully, but the redhead just shrugged.

"Whatever you say, Roxas."

The boy had been making so many excuses for Hayner, but Axel just couldn't figure out what his deal was. If it went on much longer he'd just suggest that he move somewhere else; he didn't want to become that awkward third wheel.

The offer to hang out with their neighbors didn't seem to fly completely over the boy's head; he got up off the floor. He'd invite Hayner; he needed some kind of human interaction- he was spending a lot of the week inside doing nothing.

But the door to his friend's room opened before he could reach it. Hayner had a backpack slung over his shoulder.

"Where are you going?" Roxas asked surprised.

"Out." Hayner replied unhelpfully.

"We're going next door to hang out, wanna come?" His friend offered anyway, he didn't want to say he hadn't at least tried.

"I'll pass, I've got plans, sorry. Next time though." The camo wearing boy waved over his shoulder as he left the apartment.

Roxas burned holes into the door with his gaze.

"Oh, come on Mother Hen, he's a big boy." Axel thumped him on the back, breaking his train of thought. He agreed weakly before excusing himself to go change and pretend not to worry about it some more.

* * *

Hayner was doing something he hadn't done in a while. He was swinging a struggle bat. Not for the same reasons the team had, but to blow off steam.

It seemed a bitter way to get his mind off things, but it was either this or breaking his knuckles punching one of the very thick trees surrounding him.

He was near that creepy old mansion. It was the only place no one really came and he wanted seclusion so it was pretty much his only option.

Hayner sloppily slid into those half forgotten stances, it was one thing to see them every day with Roxas, and it was another to remember how to be that fluid again.

He battled his invisible opponent for a few rounds before he decided he had ultimately lost, to his own imagination none the less. Sometimes he pictured his younger self standing there, facing him, that stupid look on his face as he proudly brandished his school's struggle team shirt.

This was stupid; he was only ignoring current problems for old wounds. He threw the bat uselessly to the side; it rolled away as if insulted by the treatment. The blonde wouldn't care if he never saw it again.

"I really need to find a hobby." The boy grumbled, kicking the dirt as he was left to his own thoughts again.

"What, other than talking to yourself?" A voice called out.

Somewhere Hayner had learned to stop being surprised. "What, should I take up stalking? Any tips? You seem to enjoy it." He responded dryly.

Seifer stood there, not looking too pleased, Hayner's struggle bat offered up in his hand like evidence. "I was walking when this bullshit nearly tripped me."

"What, I caught you off guard? Alert the press." The brown eyed boy scoffed.

"We have a place for this type of thing you know, a whole fucking lot devoted to it. Out here people will think you're doing shooting up heroin."

"I don't care what people think, let alone you." Hayner bit back.

"You piss me off, you and your shitty attitude." The beanie-toting boy sneered.

"You'll get over it." The other boy brushed past him, heading back to the city.

"What, did your boyfriend dump you for that redhead princess that's been showing up at practice lately?" Seifer called after him before he could get too far, obviously trying to strike a sensitive cord.

"_Why you."_ Hayner growled, spinning on his heel, stomping over a foot before Seifer, a firm snarl in place.

Seifer laughed, "Sora told me he's your new roommate. Betcha' don't like that, no. You hate new people in your territory. I can just see it all over your face."

Hayner smashed his fist into his mouth; he swore he saw Seifer smirk. He knew he was aiming to get him riled up. Seifer was picking a fight on purpose, but the other boy obliged, somehow the blood and bruises always distracted him from the problem at hand. Too bad most of the time it was his blood and his body covered in bruises.

The struggle team leader was in perfect shape and had excellent reflexes; Hayner was just some punk compared to him. Seifer kneed him right in the gut, a whoosh of air left the curly blonde's lungs as he hunched over, coughing in pain.

"That was cheap." Hayner growled.

"No, _you_ should've seen it coming. I made it obvious enough." Seifer scoffed before pushing him back a few steps. "C'mon, at least act like you still remember how to fight me." He laughed.

"Shut _up!_" His opponent yelled charging forward fueled by his emotions. Seifer met him head on, grabbing him by the wrists and pushed, Hayner's shoes skidding in the dirt as he struggled to keep from being pushed back. Dirt flew up as the curly haired boy threw his weight forward, moving his feet slowly as he kept Seifer at bay. The man was smirking now, seeming to find fun in the challenge.

"That's more like it." Seifer growled, before pushing back harder, Hayner letting out a frustrated grunt as his arms quivered from the force that was being exerted.

It only lasted like this for bit longer before Hayner ripped Seifer's grip away, rubbing unconsciously at his wrists as he stood watching the man, pretending to anticipate his moves. In reality he was waiting for the feeling to return to his hands. But who needed feeling when he was just going to be smashing his knuckles into the cocky man's flesh?

The lighter blonde rolled his eyes, "Enough stalling." Swinging a fist to slam into Hayner's face, the boy just barely moved his arms up to block.

Seifer was fast, faster than he had ever remembered.

He was panting, his camo shorts covered in dirt and ripped in some places. They were both sitting, half lying on the ground, tired. Hayner knew he was probably only so close to Seifer's playing field right now because the man was already worn out from practice earlier that day.

"What was that for?" Hayner idly asked, too tired to move from his spot, only just hardly glancing over at the man sitting up on the ground who looked just as exhausted.

"Felt like we were due for a fight." Seifer said simply.

Hayner actually laughed at that, "I guess I did miss beating your face in."

"Ha, how can you miss something that never happened?" The man replied sarcastically.

"Hey…I gave you a few good black eyes back in the day." The younger boy said in defense.

"I remember breaking your nose once." Seifer laughed.

"How is that even remotely funny?" Hayner cried, sitting up and immediately wincing.

"Because I remember how stupid you looked." He paused, "Well more stupid than usual anyway."

"Ugh, you already beat me up once. Can we skip the verbal lashing today?" The brown eyed boy groaned, too tired to pretend to be cocky.

"You were the one who asked for it." Seifer shrugged.

"What are you on?" He demanded giving the older boy a ridiculous look, who locked eyes with him for a moment.

"Well, I could tell by that look on your face. I remembered it. We always fought when you had that look." The beanie clad man said as if it made sense.

Hayner only sighed loudly and rolled over, as if to ignore him.

"You looked like you needed to blow off some steam." Seifer said after a minute of silence, admitting that the fight had been for a reason after all.

The back of his old rival continued to face him, the blue eyed man was sure there some ridiculous look on Hayner's face.

"I'm not a charity case." The boy mumbled from the dirt, Seifer shushed him and they sat there for a while in silence.

"He's too pushy." Hayner said after a while.

"Huh?" Seifer asked with a start, as if surprised by the sound of his voice.

"Axel." The other blonde reminded him. The older man waited for Hayner to go on, wondering if the conversation was leading anywhere. "I keep locking up; I just get this intense sense of…" He trailed off.

"Of jealousy?" Seifer finished for him; Hayner groaned and made some guttural sound of agreement. Another string of silence followed, but this time the conversation died in its intensity.

"Why am I even telling you this shit?" The camo clad boy growled as he suddenly sat up from the dirt. Seifer looked over at him with a bored expression, positive that Hayner was frustrated with himself for opening up. The older man obviously didn't seem to care much about that fact; he stood up, brushed the dirt off his knees and walked off.

"Hell if I know, Lamer."

* * *

Roxas stared into the abyss that was a bowl of popcorn that Sora had seemingly magicked out of thin air. He was sure however that he just hadn't been paying attention when Sora made it, he had been that way all night. Axel was so engrossed with some story he was telling that he had yet to notice the behavior.

The blonde decided he probably wouldn't realize anyway, they hadn't known each other for more than a few weeks. Riku however seemed to pick up on the lack of Roxas's enthusiasm, and you know, the complete silence he seemed to manage.

When Roxas finally realized the gaze of the worried man, he gave a slight start and excused himself to go "grab another movie" from his apartment. Which, in itself, was a useless feat since the movie they currently had on was long forgotten.

He sighed, shutting the door behind him slowly, his back slumping against the cheap wood.

A knock on the door made his stomach flip bitterly. Hayner wouldn't knock. He opened the door to find Riku. "Uh, I couldn't find it." The lame excuse tumbled from his lips.

"You've been quiet all night." Riku said, completely ignoring the excuse.

Roxas bit his lip, not quite sure what to say to that and just waited for the inevitable prying of information. He wasn't sure he'd be able to dodge Riku's questions for much longer. He had asked before if Hayner was alright. Hell, if he himself were alright. Roxas had said yes with a smile. But that had been the give away. The silver haired boy had seen right through the false smiles.

"It's about Hayner, it usually is." He prodded, trying to strike a cord in hope of getting an actual response.

The blonde frowned, still not answering, but this time he was unable to continue looking his neighbor in the eye.

"I know he doesn't really like other people too well, if Axel isn't working out don't give up. You're going to have to push the limits a little and make him uncomfortable if you want him to have a chance to adapt." Riku seemed to know more than he had originally let on all those other times. Roxas silently cursed himself for ranting to Sora. He should have known the boy was loose lipped, especially when it came to his best friend. Not like the brunette would be very good at hiding anything from him anyway.

"I should have known. Sora didn't come up with the idea after all. You were the one who suggested Axel move in originally, weren't you?" The blue eyed boy accused him.

"Yes, I thought of it. But don't treat me like an evil master mind just yet. I only did it because we were worried. You guys are our friends after all." Riku stated, trying to make clear that he had good intentions.

"Who are you to say he has some problem? What if he's just shy or antisocial, huh?" Roxas yelled, this time angry.

"Look, you've made excuses for him long enough, you guys need to sit down and talk.." Riku started more gently.

"Don't you think I have?" The blonde threw up his hands in frustration. "I've tried hundreds of times, he hates to talk about it. He won't listen to me; he just runs off and avoids talking to me."

"Look, if it's that bad that he won't even talk about it then it's already gone too far. We need to all talk to him. Maybe he needs..." Riku trailed off, realizing belatedly what he was suggesting.

Roxas laughed bitterly, "What? An intervention? It's frustrating, yeah! But it's not a huge problem for us! We don't need some...intervention like they have for alcoholics!" He said harshly.

"...'Us', 'we', Roxas? You realize you said that, right? You're so far into this, that it's not just Hayner's problem any more, you consider it your own. Roxas, this isn't healthy behavior for him. You understand that. Then why do you let him keep shooting you down and treating you like that? I admire you're patience and tolerance with him. But it's not healthy for you either." Riku finally finished, ignoring the fact that Sora had stepped out of their apartment upon hearing shouting. Roxas wasn't even aware that they had an audience. The silver haired man waited patiently while his neighbor stood in his door contemplating the words.

"...Riku. I know that it's not good for him. But I don't think us sitting him down and talking to him is the way to go. Not now. We'd have to work in a way where he is unconscious of us trying to help him. Or at least what our intentions are." The blonde said, seriously considering Riku's words now after he had calmed down.

The teal eyed man nodded, "Yes that was what I was trying to do with Axel moving in."

Axel whom had poked his head out the door after Sora had opened it seemed to grumble something about not being "just some piece in a puzzle'. He went mostly ignored.

"Well, yeah. That's a good idea. Except that Axel and Hayner would never get along even if Hayner weren't particularly loathing of people."

"True, that was a mistake on my part. But maybe we can see if we can get him closer to someone he can get along with?"

Roxas fidgeted for a moment, "Well, I had hoped that you guys would be those people." He admitted.

Riku didn't seemed too surprised, "He does seem to tolerate our company at the very least. I can't say how much he cares for us just yet however. He mostly hangs out with us out of obligation to you."

Sora took the moment to butt in, "No, there was one time when he had fought with Roxas and came to us out of his own free will. He had fun too!" He encouraged, looking from Roxas to Riku with hopeful eyes.

The silverette seemed to fall to pieces at such a simple fact, perhaps because it was given by Sora. "Well…yeah. That one time, yes."

"Yeah! But I can't just keep getting in fights with him and running him off to you! And I can't just abandon and make him go to you guys either." Roxas informed them.

"Of course not, we'll have to do some work ourselves to make him want to spend time with us."

The blonde huffed, "Good luck. He's stubborn to top it all off."

Riku began to grumble some sort of agreement when Sora took the moment to step in and suggest they go back inside, "C'mon. Look you're both frustrated and it's very sweet that you're worried. But let's relax…come on, please?" He pleaded, mostly with Riku, seeing on how easily his resolve was broken. [Or at least Sora considered it so, since he hardly ever told him no.]

"Yeah, you're right." Roxas begrudgingly admitted, he was getting pretty tired thinking about it, let alone talking about it. He cared for his friend, but he couldn't have it on his mind twenty-four seven. It was wearing him down and he did have obligations and responsibilities he needed to have energy for. Seifer would kill him if he came to practice, half asleep, half worried to death. He would never put Struggle before Hayner, but he couldn't let the problems consume his happiness and love of the game. Roxas would be miserable otherwise and they'd both suffer.

He had an idea for how he could get Hayner to lighten up around their neighbors.

"Okay, hear me out; this seems like a huge jump. But, if he had to come to something, and he actually let himself have fun. It could help you guys get closer."

Sora frowned slightly at the mention of the issue, but let Roxas continue out of respect and curiosity.

"A cook out or party, for the struggle players, y'know a celebration for the team once we have our first match. Hayner wouldn't be able to refuse, he's been living his past year pushing and supporting me to get on the team. If I'm happy about it and want him to come, he won't say no. I don't like the idea of manipulating him like that, but it's worth a shot if we have a chance at helping him."

"What makes you think we're going to win our first match?" Riku spoke up.

Roxas smiled, "There's no way." He said as he looked over to Sora, who agreed with a big smile and a thumps-up.

Riku sighed and said, "Okay, fine. That gives us this weekend. I'll start planning…"

Sora beamed, "Axel can help too, since he's basically been lackey number two since he started watching practice."

Riku and Axel protested the term "lackey" quite loudly, but the two Struggle boys began to go on about their opponent, and their complaints faded into background noise to never be heard again.

"Ugh, athletes. If they weren't so cute I'd say no in a heartbeat." Axel grumbled, his silver haired friend patted him on the back and moved the excited boys inside before the neighbors filed a noise complaint.

* * *

The door rattled softly as Hayner jiggled the key in the lock. All was quiet next door so he had assumed the little party had ended. It was dark by the time he had come home but even then Roxas shouldn't have been sleeping by now. He confirmed this as the door finally opened, he could hear the quiet voices from what used to be the game room.

He passed the door on the way to his room, hoping to just go to bed without being seen. Hayner did not forget how roughed up he looked and didn't want to risk his friend's worry by being caught.

On cue Roxas poked his head out the door, "Hayner, you home?" He called looking out into the dark hallway.

"Yeah, but I'm going to bed." Hayner quickly covered as he slipped into his bedroom. He sighed as Roxas nodded and said goodnight. He could hear him telling Axel to keep it down through the wall. Hayner took in his appearance in the mirror and decided his best bet was to throw away the clothes before Roxas discovered them. The blonde dreaded the thought of his friend finding out about his and Seifer's fight. He'd raise hell over it and that was the last thing Hayner wanted right now.

As he collapsed onto his bed, his last waking thoughts were that he hoped his friend didn't make the connection between his bruised face and Seifer's split lip.

* * *

**Thank you for being patient, I appreciate you as my readers. I will be more avid about getting updates out at a decent time. I hope you are as excited as I am!**


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